Ascent of Monroe Peak on 2007-08-12

Ascent Trip Report

Monroe and Signal Peaks are about 6 miles apart and rival each other for a prominence of over 4100' near Richfield UT. Monroe is officially one foot higher, but the difference is far too small to be conclusive, so a serious prominence bagger will want to climb both peaks in order to be sure of claiming the prominence. I did so on 2007 Aug 12.

Near the center of the town of Monroe UT, UT-118 makes a 90° turn at the intersection of 100S and Main. An LDS ward building sits on the SW corner of this intersection. Zero your odometer and head S on Main St. At 0.7 miles, the road turns 45° left. At 1.7 miles, the road enters a canyon and the Fishlake NF. The road remains paved but narrow as it passes some private residences. At 3.3 miles, FR 162 branches off to the left at a guard station. This is the way to Signal Peak, whereas the way to Monroe Peak continues straight ahead.

To approach Monroe Peak, continue on the paved road above the guard station. 0.2 miles later, go right at a fork where the left fork goes to Monrovian Park Campground. 0.2 miles after that, the pavement ends at a large ATV parking lot. The well-graded gravel road beyond is suitable for any street-legal vehicle. 9.9 miles after that, a side road turns left to the summit of Monroe Peak. Being the Earlizer, I parked here and hiked the remainder (with a slight dip at the start to get 1000' gain).

The 7.5' topo only shows a radio tower at the north end of the summit plateau, but there is now also a cluster of towers at the south end, near the 11,227' BM. A spur road branches off and goes to these towers. The highest ground is a rocky rise roughly W of the towers. From visual sighting it is clear that this is the highest summit, and no other points on the Monroe Peak summit plateau need be visited.

Except possibly for a rocky section about 400' above the turnoff, the Monroe summit road is navigable by any street-legal vehicle, and the peak is Martinizable to within less than 20 feet elevation. Even the worst part of the summit road could still be negotiable with low clearance by a brave and careful driver.